


Tales from the Castle

by NeviChaos



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 00:12:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1837279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeviChaos/pseuds/NeviChaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xehanort has been defeated.  The Keyblade wielders have been reunited, and are living in the castle in Radiant Garden.  Life after the end of a war is not always happily-ever-after.  Not unless you work for it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Blindfold over Memories

“Gah!  Riku!  Why are you wearing a blindfold!?  Did something happen?” 

Sora had been sitting at the unofficial breakfast table, crunching on his cereal, when Riku had walked into the kitchen with a blindfold covering his eyes.  Kairi had looked up from her place at the head of the table at Sora’s exclamation, and now she was also looking at Riku with a worried expression.

Riku sighed from where he stood next to the kitchen’s coffee machine. 

“Yeah, something happened alright.  Those nightmare-memories of Terra’s finally got too powerful.  Ansem tried to hide from them inside my light.”  Riku placed a hand over his heart for a second before dropping it and continuing.  “But, moving about in my heart like that, well, I guess I’m not as immune to his influence as I thought.  He isn’t controlling me or anything, but it was still enough to cause me to...change.”

Kairi frowned at that.  She hadn’t wanted to believe her lover could still be so influenced by the darkness.  She glanced over at Sora.  Well, he didn’t look _too_ worried, perhaps this wasn’t as bad as she thought.  Kairi lightened her expression when Riku turned around and looked at her.  At least she assumed he was looking at her, it was hard to tell with that blindfold on.

“Namine, are you sure there’s nothing you can do about Terra’s memories?”  Riku didn’t sound hopeful, he’d asked before and knew what the answer would be.

Kairi looked up at him with eyes a paler blue than usual.  “I’m sorry Riku.  Those memories, they’re from before Terra became a Keyblade wielder.  They aren’t linked to Sora at all.  I can sense them, but I can’t do anything about them.”  Namine’s eyes were so sad inside of Kairi’s face, Riku was forced to look away.

“Yeah, I know.  I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t put pressure on you like that.”  Riku picked up his mug of coffee and came over to sit at the bench across from Sora.

Sora gave Riku a worried look as he sat down.  “Riku....are you sure Ansem isn’t influencing you in any way?  It’s just that.....you made your coffee the same way Xemnas does.”  Sora gave the coffee mug a perculiar look.  “And you don’t normally even drink coffee.”

“...”  Riku had pretty much frozen on the spot when Sora finished.  “I....”

“Why do you even know how I take my coffee?”  A tired baritone asked from the doorway.

Oh great, of all the people Riku did not want to deal with this morning, Xemnas was near the top of his list.

“I just do okay?”  Riku smirked slightly at how defensive Sora sounded, but his smirk died straight away when Sora continued.  “Anyway, Riku still hasn’t answered my question.  Why are you drinking coffee?”

“...because I’m really tired okay?  Those nightmares might not affect me directly, but they do affect Ansem.  He’s the reason I didn’t sleep well last night.”  It was a poor excuse and Riku knew it, but he’d started now so he might as well persevere.  “He kept me up, so he can provide the cure.”  Riku sipped his coffee to emphasize his point.

“Hmm.  Be glad you don’t know the content of those nightmares.  They make me glad I don’t have a heart.”  Xemnas was leaning against the bench where the coffee machine sat.  Exhaustion was clear in the lines of his body.

Riku looked aside at that.  Sure, he might be getting echoes of the pain Terra’s heart remembered, but they were only echoes.  Ansem and Xemnas were experiencing the real thing, or at least, half of the real thing each.  But worst of all was Terra himself.  He hadn’t come out of his room since the first day after it started.  Aqua and Ventus were taking care of him, but unless this stopped soon, Terra’s heart might break all over again.


	2. Silent Earth

Terra didn't scream as his body was wracked with uncontrollable spasms.  He didn't groan as sweat beaded his face and palms.  He didn't even whimper when he was reduced to mere trembling, his once-great strength having finally given out.

Terra didn't make any noise any more.

That was the worst part, Aqua reflected.  If Terra had made some noise, some sign that he was at least trying to fight against whatever was slowly destroying him, then those sounds would give her at least some hope.  But this endless silence…it reminded her of the silence in the Realm of Darkness, and thoughts of that place gave her no hope at all.

No the only hope Aqua had found had come from such an unexpected source.  Xemnas, dark, terrible and fearsome, yet he was her light of hope in this.  The irony was not lost on her.

 Yet, where else should she have expected salvation for Terra's darkness, except in one of the manifestations of Terra's darkness itself?  Only he and Riku felt the echoes of Terra's nightmares, and Riku only felt reflections of the emotions that roiled through Terra's heart.  It was Xemnas who saw the memories themselves, it was Xemnas who had reassured her that Terra's pain was not caused by her, not caused by what she had done.

Such a selfish fear that had been, yet for days it had paralysed her before the hollow-man had finally spoken to her.  Now she knew better. Now she knew it was no action of her's that had caused this pain.  Now she knew this pain had been lurking in Terra's heart for far longer than she had known him.  Now, instead of being paralysed with selfish fear, she was angry with herself for having never known Terra anywhere near as well as she had pretended to herself she did.

And now Terra was in pain again, and it was slowly killing him.  And Aqua could do nothing but hate herself for never finding out about his past.  For never finding out what light had kept him going so long.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first foray back into writing in a long time, so any constructive criticism is welcome. Thankyou, and I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
